


Noels Only Hope

by BlackInkOnly



Category: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Genre: Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-04-03 21:23:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4115386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackInkOnly/pseuds/BlackInkOnly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hello! This is actually an idea given to me by someone new to the noehopu pairing. They wanted to see more hurt/comfort types where Hope sort of saves the day. Thank you (tumblr follower) for sharing you idea with me and allowing me to write it!!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Noels Only Hope

Noel was ready. His swords were in hand, he held his stance and he was prepared to fight the few miniflan, of some sort he couldn’t remember. But were there seven, eight, or just a few he wondered, blinking hard in an effort to focus.

Something was off, but Noel wasn’t ready to say anything just yet. Serah was the first to act. He could hear a small feminine grunt as the arrow pierced through, doing damage to one but also infuriating the rest. As much as he wanted to dash forward and take the challenge head on, his body wasn’t cooperating. Maybe it was the sweat that drenched his forehead and back. Then again, the muscle aches weren’t helping. His swords were heavy in his hands. Arrow after arrow could be heard whipping through the air and his name echoed around him a couple of times, but the light was dimming. 

Serah squeaked, dodging a fire attack. Her head poked up from the tall grass she landed in, “Noel! A little help?” 

Noel forced himself forward and fell to his knees. Since he hadn’t actually done anything, the creatures left him alone to take care of the aggressor first. Instincts probably told them the weak one wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t normally a hard fight, but divide and conquer made it much easier, especially with their healing abilities. Now it was Serah against… however many his eyes saw at the moment. 

Then, everything began to spin slowly. The hot tropical scenery of the Sunleth Waterscape had started to move on it’s own. He panicked and began to breathe heavily. 

After picking off one by one, Serah managed to defeat what were actually four flan and turn her attention to Noel. She ran to his side, seeing his shirt dark with perspiration and was immediately worried. “Noel? Hey what’s wrong?” 

She grabbed his arms and helped him sit upright, positioning herself right in front of him. 

Then he felt it, the inevitable. His stomach tightened and his mouth filled with saliva. He tried to pull away form Serah, but her concerned grip proved hard to get away from. Then he tried to push, turning his head, she just needed to get out of the way. 

“Noel stop, let me look at you. I- eek,” she gasped as Noel, with one great push, moved her aside. “Hey! Wha-” 

That’s as far as she got before Noel began expelling everything in stomach in one violent lurch after the other. It was relentless, leaving him only a few short seconds to breathe before he did it again. When he was empty, he began to dry heave. It was taxing, causing the muscles in his face to ache. His eyes felt strained and he was seeing blurs of yellow everywhere. He grabbed his abdomen, feeling the sharp pain take over where his food once sat. It was so great, he couldn’t help but groaned loudly. 

Serah started to panic at this point. He needed help and the first thing she thought of was a potion. She pulled a vile from her side bag and popped the cork. She was able to help Noel sit up, although it worsened his pain. As he tried to drink, he was forced to spit it out. His throat wouldn’t swallow easily. What little he had managed to get into his stomach was already being forced back out alongside hot burning stomach acid. 

“He’s not keeping anything down,” she exhaled. Gently she put her hands on his burning forehead, ignoring the sweat that had dampened his hair. She exhaled softly and concentrated, feeling her magic flow from her arm. A small green aura was present and she could see a bit of color coming back into her companions cheeks. For a few moments, she stayed there, pushing all she had into healing, feeling his fever go down, and breathing became less frantic. When she was spent, she pulled her hand away, only to see Noel’s eyes were still glossy and he was still swaying back and forth slowly from the dizzy feeling in his head. 

“I don’t understand,” she sighed. 

Mog hovered over them, seeing that this was something much worse than a simple poison or injury. Her healing wasn’t enough, but it bought them some time. 

“Mint,” Mog chirped frantically. “Biting mint leaves calms your stomach, kupo. If he feels better, maybe an antidote, kupo?” 

Serah had a few that they’d gathered for cooking in her bag. She frantically dug around until she felt them under her fingers. “What if an antidote doesn’t fix what’s wrong, Mog?” 

“I don’t know, kupo. You pushed the poison back into it’s early stages. It onsets quickly, kupo. We need to abandon the cores for now and take him somewhere else just in case, before it gets bad again, kupo kupo,” he chirped sadly. 

The taste of mint filled Noels’ mouth and he was able to hold some of his own weight and walk alongside Serah, leaning against her, towards the gate. As the cool flavor filled his mouth his stomach actually felt just the tiniest bit better. Suddenly, an overwhelming ache began at the base of his skull, just above the neck. He grabbed at his head, hoping counter pressure would help. Slowly it grew, climbing the sides of his head and his steps began to slow and noticeably falter. It felt as if someone was trying to pull the back of his head open. 

Serah tried to hold on and shift more of his weight onto her, but he fell, just as the gate came into sight around the corner. “Mog, what’s happening? This isn’t how it progressed before!” 

Mog was out of answers, instead he guessed, “Maybe it’s evolving, kupo? It doesn’t matter, we need to go.” Little Mog grabbed Noels’ pant leg and tugged, doing what little he could. 

The pain had become so great that Noel was beginning to twist his body in response, spitting the mint out of his mouth and crying in agony. Serah was so terrified, fearing that whatever was wrong was most certainly fatal, that she started forming her own tears. Unwilling to give up she grabbed one of his arms, wrenching it from the back of his head and began to drag him towards the gate, pulling against the force of kicking and thrashing in response to what felt like his brain swelling to explode as his fever spiked.

Their presence activated the gate and before long its aura lifted Noel, light as a feather, and sent them through. The gate took them to Academia 4XX AF, planting them gently onto the concrete. Noel, was unresponsive, lying on his side.

Anticipating the gates activity once again, Hope had been there waiting for them. He was startled to see them both in such a state. 

“Hope, help us,” Serah pleaded desperately, “he was getting sick and I tried to help. He was screaming in pain and now he-he just…” Her hands covered her face as she began to sob, fearing Noel was already gone. 

Hope instinctively flew into action, rolling the hunter onto his back and pressing his ear to Noels chest, hearing a weak heartbeat. “He’s alive,” he gasped. It was then that Noel unconsciously began to gasp. Short forceful breaths took over and jerked his body. 

“His throats closing,” Hope said, trying to stay calm. 

“We have to get him somewhere,” Serah demanded. 

“He won’t make it,” Hope answered honestly. If he’d had any idea there would have been someone there with him. He laid his hands on Noels chest and shut his eyes, praying this would work. Feeling his heart ache at the prospect of loosing him. 

Concentrating on Noel, Hope began to sense the foreign entity in the brunettes body. It had been so long since he’d used his magic, he felt out of practice. In the background Serah was frantic, “No, I tried it didn’t work.” 

“Wait, kupo,” Mog whispered to her. She stood there, tears running down her face, unsure of what to do.

A small green light appeared at his hands and slowly, it grew. Hope was straining to push more. He knew there was so much to give, but it was much harder now than it was when he was young. Lightning had helped him find and grow the magic power inside of him. It used to be so easy. For years it went unused, growing alongside him, but dammed up behind a door, he just had to release it. 

Finally Noel stopped breathing. 

Hope clutched his shirt in his hands, pressing his eyes closed even tighter, ‘No! I can’t lose him.’

With a small gasp, Hope felt the wall inside of him crumble, as the familiar feeling of magic came forth, overtaking his body. It was much more intense than he remembered. It made him feel weightless.

The light at his hands flashed brilliantly, blinding Serah and Mog. They both turned away from it, covering their faces. 

When the initial flash was over, she slowly turned back and saw the both of them encapsulated in large green bubbled. The colors swirled around them as inside, it looked as if time had stopped. Hopes face was relaxed as he maintained control and concentrated on Noel. His senses told him that the entity inside of Noel was shrinking. He pushed his magic, forcing the unwanted disease to pull away from where it had spread in Noels body and condense in one spot. Unable to completely destroy it, he pulled what was left out through his chest. 

Serah’s stomach churned as a long thick trail of black cloud emerged from Noels chest, pulling into a sphere. Hope knew that the hunter was healed and free of his ailment. The bubble dissipated, forcing the black cloud to solidify. It fell from it’s suspension in the air and made the sound of clinking glass as it hit the floor, bouncing a few times before rolling to a stop near Serah. 

“Don’t touch it,” Hope spat. 

She had no intention of doing so. Serah instead took two large steps away and looked over at Noel, waiting for him to wake up. Nothing happened. 

Fearing it was too late, Hope once again planted his ear to Noels’ chest, listening for a heartbeat. It was there, and it was strong. He sat up, wondering what could be wrong. Then, remembering that he had stopped breathing. Hope began to lean in closer, hoping to hear Noel taking breaths. 

As he was inches away, Noel leaned his head forward, eyes still closed, and planted his lips onto Hopes. A second later Noels eyes flew open and he saw greenish eyes looking back. The kiss continued with the brunette pushing into it, but then he stopped and Noel gently pulled away. A moment of intensity followed, as they looked into each others eyes, no one wanting to say anything. 

“Noel! You’re OK!,” Serah beamed. 

It was enough to break the tension and pull Noels attention towards her. Hope sat upright and stayed there silently as Serah fussed over her companion for a moment, glad he was alright. 

Overnight, Noel and Serah stayed in Academia. Serah welcomed the break, Noel needed it. Hope, still worried about any lingering effects spent much of the day with him. For once, Noel wanted for nothing. Hopes behavior struck him as, maternal. He was very caring and intuitive between fever checks, meals and naps they did a lot of talking. It was nice. 

They next day they found the Director at his console, overseeing things as he normally did. They exchanged friendly goodbyes and Serah promised to bring back a core, not an ailing Noel next time. While they were gone, Hope promised to investigate the mysterious orb in hopes of finding its origin. For now, it was assumed to be a curse of some sort, rather than illness or poison.

As Alyssa offered to walk them out, Hope asked that Noel stay behind. He couldn’t get the moment out of his head and he decided to go out on a limb and address it. 

The two young ladies, with Mog in tow, headed out of the building. It wasn’t until the doors closed behind them, that Hope spoke. 

“Noel, I wanted to talk to you,” he explained shyly. “I just,” he hesitated, “just wanted to ask you, about what happened. At the gate-” 

The hunter nodded, “Oh, yeah. Look, I know I’ll never be able to repay you for saving my life, but I hope you know just how much I appreciate it. I wouldn’t have made it, not without you.” 

Hope nodded politely, not feeling satisfied in the least. “I mean, after that,” he whispered. “We.. It’s just, well, you opened your eyes and you-” he stammered, stepping just a little closer, “you didn’t pull away.” His cheeks burned, “Why?” 

Crossing his arms anxiously, Noel just shrugged at first. Truthfully, he had been hoping this would somehow go unspoken. “Yeah, I,” he started, shrugging once again with a small smile. “I guess, I just thought that I was still dreaming…” he admitted pursing his lips and turning away to hide his pink cheeks. 

“Still.. dreaming,” Hope echoed back softly. “About m-” 

“You know,” Noel interrupted, “I should go before she leaves without me.” 

Not wanting to push too much, Hope nodded, biting his lower lip and holding back a few of his own words. Telling him could wait, he had his answer. It was the one he was hoping for. “Of course. Be careful, please.” 

As Noel took step after slow step to the door, he turned, walking backwards and keeping his eyes on the Director. “That’s a lot of magic.” 

“Yeah,” he sighed, remembering Lightning, Vanille and the others that helped him find it, control it and grow it, “I started young.” 

Just as the door opened for Noel, he waited to step through, “You know, you didn’t,” he said with a small pause, “pull back, either.” 

Hope, comfortable with being more forward just smiled, “I just didn’t want to.” 

As the door slide shut, Noels eyes widened in surprise, “Uh-” and suddenly he had wished he stayed. If he had asked earlier and gotten his answer the time could have been much more meaningful. Suddenly there was so much more to say, so much more to feel. “Crap,” he exhaled, feeling his shoulders slump. 

He turned away from the door, feeling a new sense of elation grow from his stomach. Now it was him that was going to have to wait until next time.

 

Ending Authors Note: In the first XIII Hope had the highest potential for maximum magic ability and I TOTALLY Maxed it out. As time goes on, I don’t feel like magic power goes away, or becomes weak when not used. I imagined it grows alongside the one who bears it, which is why I always pictured him using very strong magic. (He threw his boomerang once and there was magic attached but I kind of wish we got to see more of it. Or of him, in general…. with Noel. Whatever I’m off topic.)


End file.
